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Cerilian dwarf
Dwarves lived in the mountains of Cerilia long before humans came to the land. Over the years, the dwarven holds have chosen a defensive strategy, fortifying their approaches and retreating to their cities under the mountains whenever threatened. Dwarves have a fierce hatred of orogs (orclike beings), the result of uncounted wars fought under the earth. Appearance The typical dwarf stands about 4' to 4'6" in height, with an exceptionally stocky build and thick, sturdy bones. Dwarves are creatures of stone, the children of the mountains, and their bodies are twice as dense as those of other creatures; in this respect they're closely related to stone giants. Dwarves often weigh as much as 250 to 300 pounds despite their size. A dwarf's skin is gray, stony, and cold to the touch. All dwarves have eyes that are dark as jet and their hair and beards are black or dark gray in color and normally cropped short. Dwarves value their personal appearances and spend time daily grooming their hair and beards. They favor simple styles with little color or ornamentation, except when it comes to stone or metalwork which is more often than not heavily gilded and inlaid with precious gems. Personality Dwarves are suspicious and silent around strangers often appearing to be dour and grim sentinels preoccupied with keeping the orog population in check under the mountains. To those few who earn their trust, or in the privacy of their own homes they seem merry and filled with an irrepressible store of good cheer and song. All those familiar with tales of the dwarves know that Dwarves value gold, gems, jewellery, and precious art objects more than anything else, and they are a deeply greedy people. Like many things that the humans of Cerilia believe they know this is simply incorrect - dwarves value wealth certainly, but they value family and friends far more. The legends of dwarven greed come instead from the fact that a dwarf would rather try their luck another day than accept a bad bargain, demand full payment for all debts (whether owed by or to the dwarf), and demand full recognition (i.e. payment or acknowledgement of debt) for labor done - anything else would insult the craftsman. Dwarves fight neither recklessly nor timidly, but with a calculated courage and tenacity. Their sense of justice is strong, but at its worst it can turn into a thirst for vengeance. Dwarves are merciful, but neither forgive nor forget those who harm them - at best they simply choose to overlook the failings or weaknesses of others if it suits their needs. The dwarves of Cerilia usually adhere to friendly neutrality; thus they are on good terms with most other races, including the elves. They're masterful craftsmen and traders; dwarven caravans roam through Cerilia laden with goods. Dwarven arms and armor are the best in Cerilia and dwarven mercenaries are highly prized. They make excellent infantry and also include some of Cerilia's best artillerists and engineers. Dwarven politics Dwarven kingdoms are generally organized around the clan, and clan members are expected to be loyal to their clan first and king second. The clan leaders, in turn, first serve their people and swear fealty to the dwarven king. The dwarven king must therefore be an adept negotiator and a shrewd politician to keep his people together. History Dwarves learn the arts of war at an early age, for they see their duty as containing the orogs in the caverns under the mountains. The orogs have, strangely, grown ever more mighty in their years of confinement, and the dwarves have had become that much better to deal with the orogish menace. It is partly for this reason that they prefer not to deal with outsiders - visitors distract the sentries. Dwarves lived in the mountains of Cerilia untold years before humans came to the land. They are a strong, enduring folk who enjoy hard living and hard work. They are known both for their skill at making and building, and for their skill at warfare. Their mysterious kingdoms, carved out from the insides of mountains, are renowned for the marvelous treasures that they produce for gift and trade. Common belief amongst Anuirean and Khinasi scholars is that the dwarves and elves fought great battles in the past as they strove for dominance in Cerilia, however dwarven legend (and elven memory) contains no such conflicts - or at least none they will admit to, put simply neither race ever coveted the others lands, both despised the humanoids that surrounded them and both realized early on in their history that it would be better in the long term to trade with the other than seek to take. In addition to being skilled fighters, the dwarves of Cerilia are also excellent miners. Each dwarf clan tends to specialize in a certain sort of mining, so that one clan searches out gems, while another specializes in ores. The clans within a kingdom tend to complement one another, so no clan is left with a useless skill. Dwarves are the most technologically advanced race of Cerilia; their level of technology is roughly equivalent to the historical cultures during the close of the Renaissance period. Dwarven lands Dwarven kingdoms are usually deep beneath the stony face of mountains, where the dwarves mine gems and precious metals and forge items of beauty and wonder. Trustworthy members of other races are occasionally welcome here, although parts of the dwarven realm are off limits even to them. Whatever the dwarves can't find in their mountains they gain through trade. A fair number of dwarves are found in human lands where they typically find work as mercenaries, weaponsmiths, armorsmiths, jewelers, and artisans. Some of these are outcasts and are not welcome in the dwarven realms, either for a period of years or possibly forever if they have committed some grave crime. Dwarves maintain small enclaves in almost all of Cerilia's mountain ranges, trading posts along major trade routes, and a number of large cities have their own dwarf quarters. Religion Moradin is the legendary creator of dwarves and the chief deity of a mysterious pantheon of dwarven gods. The dwarves don't speak of their beliefs to non-dwarves and hold their religious observances only in the sanctuary of their hidden fortress cities. In fact, the name Moradin is known outside dwarven halls only because the dwarves call on him for aid during battle. Language Dwarves speak Karamhul as their racial language. Karamhul is a very rigid language, with many grammatical rules. The written form has probably not changed at all over the past five thousand years. The oral form is more fluid; every dwarven realm (and to some extent every clan) have developed their own distinct dialect. Karamhul, or at least fragments of it, are fairly widely known amongst the Anuireans, Brecht and Khinasi as the highly technical and exacting terms of the dwarves were adopted by the human engineers who learnt from the dwarves, a number of human architects, miners and smiths speak a reasonable number of words from Karamhul even if they do not realize the source of the words they use. Factions and clans Below is a list of all Dwarven Domains: *Baruk-Azhik: a playable dwarven realm in Anuire. *Daikhar Zhigun: a playable dwarven realm in Brechtür. *Kheleb-izhil: a possibly mythical dwarven realm in Khinasi, we suggest that you agree with your gamemaster that it exists before choosing it as your realm. *Khurin-Azur: a playable dwarven realm in Rjurik. *Mur-Kilad: an aggressive non-playable realm in Anuire controlled by the Gorgon. Trivia/Notes (TBA) Credits *The entirety of this article comes directly from Birthright.net. The article can be viewed here. *The artwork on this article is official and was created by Wizards of the Coast and/or their affiliates. Category:Races Category:Humanoids Category:Creatures